The Historical Context of Gregory the Great

The entry on Gregory the Great in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church states the following concerning the historical context within which Gregory had assumed the Papacy:

On his accession to the Papacy, accepted only after a sever interior struggle, Gregory found Italy in an alarming state. The land was devastated by inundations, famine, pestilence, and the invasion of the Lombards, and the position of the Church threatened by the claims of the imperial power at Constantinople.

It would not, therefore, be an understatement to assert that circumstances were less than ideal for Gregory when he became the bishop of Rome. This will need to be developed in greater detail, especially through analysis of primary source material, in order to draw more solid and substantial historical conclusions.